Next ND Offensive Coordinator - the search

[Crazy Balki]

ND poised to have their best season since 1993. The QB coach/OC leaves as well as the OL coach. MF replaces them by promoting underwhelming Gerard Parker as OC, underwhelming Gino Guidugli as QB coach, and undeserving Chris Watt as OL coach.

Their only links are that they know Marcus Freeman.

Well done MF and Swarbrick, well done. The fanbase can't thank you enough.

Again, not Freeman's fault this is the end result.

It's on the admin.

 

[EvilleIrish]

Other schools have plenty of reason$$$$$$$$$$$ to get him to leave.

I don’t get how anyone thinks money will get him to stay. If someone isn’t confident in their QB position after spring and calls, you think they won’t have money?

Agreed. This notion that he can't get NIL somewhere else is silly.

 

[irishog77]

Freeman is gone within 2 years. He will only tolerate being Savvy Jack’s bitch for so long.

Freeman may be gone anyway in 2 years. Swarbrick having nothing to do with it.

If Swarbrick is making the decisions on assistant coaches (and that is an awfully big assumption to begin with), then why would he tell Freeman he can only hire his buddies? Swarbrick thinks so little of Freeman and so much of himself that the hirings he'll allow are the friends of the coach he thinks so little of?

From what we actually know (which is very little), all we can surmise is that one of, or some combination of, MF/AD/BoT/Andy Ludwig himself screwed up the hiring process of Andy Ludwig. And only Andy Ludwig.

Freeman's moves this offseason are worrisome as a young, first-time head coach. He may not last long enough to leave for another job.

 

[NDWarrior]

Yeah, BK making all the nepo hires and hanging on to them much too long is what brought on the '16 nightmare season. It's only when BK started going out and getting the best candidate (what most companies do in the workplace, duh!), that ND had the great run through last year (cue up head hitting wall repeatedly)

 

[Henges24]

Jesus wins this one.
Fans lose by paying higher ticket prices and a worse product on the field.
Makes sense….

 

[Calabrese's People]

Please stop asking the players Marcus. This hiring cycle requires leadership.

 

[irish2104]

Wouldn’t be surprised if Hartman is back in the portal in May

Not in the least... who would stick around for this minor league BS

 

[NorthDakota]

Please stop asking the players Marcus. This hiring cycle requires leadership.

Yep. Players wanna see their coaches get promotions (assuming they like the guy). 18-22 year olds are not qualified to be making these decisions.

 

[Henges24]

Meanwhile, Maryland is paying ex-HCs to be co-OCs

 

[irish2104]

Other schools have plenty of reason$$$$$$$$$$$ to get him to leave.

I don’t get how anyone thinks money will get him to stay. If someone isn’t confident in their QB position after spring and calls, you think they won’t have money? What if Bama calls?

I don’t think in the end Hartman leaves, but I 100% believe it’s possible.

Spring practice will be a shit show of incompetence on Offense.. AND Golden is going to leave... mark it down.. I would not be surprised if more than just Hartman leaves... him and his camp have to be furius... same with Carr.. this is a clown show

 

[MacIrish75]

Again, not Freeman's fault this is the end result.

It's on the admin.

If Chris Watt is his choice for OL coach without (to anyone’s knowledge) vetting and interviewing anyone else, then that absolutely is on Freeman.

If the OC hiring process went straight from Ludwig to Parker, then that absolutely is on Freeman.

The only way MF isn’t complicit is if Jack simply told him “Here is who your hires are,” which I don’t believe is what occurred.

 

[Foreverirish34]

Rage quit…

 

[Irishdrunk]

Swarbrick is fitting everything in his budget. Kelly is laughing his ass off at the Swarbrick Shit Show.

 

[arrowryan]

Spring practice will be a shit show of incompetence on Offense.. AND Golden is going to leave... mark it down.. I would not be surprised if more than just Hartman leaves... him and his camp have to be furius... same with Carr.. this is a clown show

They’re hiring/promoting someone with OC experience at the P5 level, not a high school head coach. The offense will still, more than likely, average 35+ points a game.

I’m not a fan of it, but I’ll still give Parker a fair shot. I really hope he succeeds.

 

[NDPhilly]

ND Offensive Line coach should be the top OL job in the country. We’re returning 2 future first round picks lmao.

 

[TNUtoNotreDame]

University of Notre Dame

The University of Notre Dame is a private research university inspired by its Catholic character to be a powerful force for good in the world.

www.nd.edu

That describes it perfectly.

 

[irishff1014]

They’re hiring/promoting someone with OC experience at the P5 level, not a high school head coach. The offense will still, more than likely, average 35+ points a game.

I’m not a fan of it, but I’ll still give Parker a fair shot. I really hope he succeeds.

If you are fan you have to want this to succeed. But we have all seen this before.

 

[irishog77]

Again, not Freeman's fault this is the end result.

It's on the admin.

Again, it's on the administration....and Andy Ludwig and Marcus Freeman. Andy Ludwig gave ND a copy of his contract. The Driskell report that they had a copy of the old contract would lie on Ludwig. And in all this time Ludwig and MF spent together, MF never once had the clue to ask him, "hey Andy, how much is your buyout, by the way." They spent in the neighborhood of 48 hours together. If MF offered him a job, I'm sure he gave him a number for a salary.

Absolving MF from being able to hire Andy Ludwig doesn't therefore prove his only options, of the entirety of coaches on the planet, are Parker, Gino, and maybe Watt.

Sure, spring practice starts soon. Would 2 or 3 more days in naming the coaches be that much of a detriment that MF had no other option than to hire guys...right now, today?

Sure, give the administration hell. But don't absolve Freeman and pretend he had no role in it or was forced to hire these 2 or 3 specific guys.

 

[notredomer23]

They’re hiring/promoting someone with OC experience at the P5 level, not a high school head coach. The offense will still, more than likely, average 35+ points a game.

I’m not a fan of it, but I’ll still give Parker a fair shot. I really hope he succeeds.

Don’t use logic. Let us be angry.

 

[Luckylucci]

Ignoring the clear holes that Kelly left on the roster for Freeman to fix.

There's a reason this team fell off in 2022 and it was due to Kelly's failures. Was it still better than what Kelly had inherited? Sure. But that's not the point. The notion that Freeman inherited a great situation is devoid of reality.

The other issue is the timing. Kelly never had to go looking for a new coordinator in the middle of February, a month out from Spring Practice. By this point, many of the hot commodities for OC were off the table. Many of the remaining ones, while still quality, had their own issues. Namely interest and fit.

Sean Lewis was a name for a while, but there were concerns about how his offense fit what Freeman wanted to do. Candle and Moorhead were names, but they're both head coaches, so it calls into question their interest. Candle was pursued by Miami twice and turned them down.

Ludwig was probably the one guy that was an ideal fit and him bringing his OL coach meant that ND had interest and fit with what Freeman wanted out of his offense. Instead, the admin pulled the rug from under him and made him waste all that time and effort recruiting Ludwig and getting him interested, only for them to say they're not paying the buyout. Now Freeman has to start all over. So a timeline that was already well behind schedule is even FURTHER behind schedule due to the ineptitude and unwillingness of the administration.

Spring practice is a month away. Freeman needs guys in place now so he can start prepping. That situation is infinitely more difficult if you have to instill an entirely different offense.

You can say that a single candidate being off the table is fucking dumb, but it's not just that. It's the time wasted and the fact that this was already really late in the process due to the timing of Rees' departure.

Kelly left a lot of holes, lol. The team won, literally, twice as many games over the 3 year period before he left than the 3 year period before he got here. But, I'm sure those holes were really big.

Kelly didn't lose to Marshall. In fact, Kelly had the longest active winning streak against non-ranked opponents in college football. Freeman lost to two, in one season, lol.

These are not similar, in any way shape or form. But, if you repeat it enough, you will convince yourself of anything. That's what they're counting on. Doesn't make it rational or true.

Who wasted that time?

You yolo'd your balls off for this national search, 20-30+ candidates. "BK would never do this". And that is a huge part of the reason why we are here. You just won't accept that because it doesn't fit your narrative.

 

[calvegas04]

Hate the hires going on, but will let them prove the haters right or wrong before passing further judgment

 

[arrowryan]

If you are fan you have to want this to succeed. But we have all seen this before.

It exceeded everyone’s expectations the last time they did this. He’s now the OC at Alabama.

 

[Pops Freshenmeyer]

Again, it's on the administration....and Andy Ludwig and Marcus Freeman. Andy Ludwig gave ND a copy of his contract. The Driskell report that they had a copy of the old contract would lie on Ludwig. And in all this time Ludwig and MF spent together, MF never once had the clue to ask him, "hey Andy, how much is your buyout, by the way." They spent in the neighborhood of 48 hours together. If MF offered him a job, I'm sure he gave him a number for a salary.

Absolving MF from being able to hire Andy Ludwig doesn't therefore prove his only options, of the entirety of coaches on the planet, are Parker, Gino, and maybe Watt.

Sure, spring practice starts soon. Would 2 or 3 more days in naming the coaches be that much of a detriment that MF had no other option than to hire guys...right now, today?

Sure, give the administration hell. But don't absolve Freeman and pretend he had no role in it or was forced to hire these 2 or 3 specific guys.

I get the criticism but I'm puzzled by the bolded. Doesn't Ludwig have an agent?

 

[Crazy Balki]

If Chris Watt is his choice for OL coach without (to anyone’s knowledge) vetting and interviewing anyone else, then that absolutely is on Freeman.

If the OC hiring process went straight from Ludwig to Parker, then that absolutely is on Freeman.

The only way MF isn’t complicit is if Jack simply told him “Here is who your hires are,” which I don’t believe is what occurred.

Except we know that's not true.

Freeman interviewed multiple names before keying in on Ludwig, and Parker was among the names that would be considered from the beginning.

Since the Ludwig fiasco, Freeman has locked things down and there's been complete silence on who they've interviewed or contacted.

So, how do we know if Freeman didn't contact more QB or OL coaches? Nobody is going to have that knowledge because the admin fucked it up for everybody else.

 

[irishff1014]

It exceeded everyone’s expectations the last time they did this. He’s now the OC at Alabama.

He had an experienced offensive head coach and OL coaches.

 

[Crazy Balki]

Again, it's on the administration....and Andy Ludwig and Marcus Freeman. Andy Ludwig gave ND a copy of his contract. The Driskell report that they had a copy of the old contract would lie on Ludwig. And in all this time Ludwig and MF spent together, MF never once had the clue to ask him, "hey Andy, how much is your buyout, by the way." They spent in the neighborhood of 48 hours together. If MF offered him a job, I'm sure he gave him a number for a salary.

Absolving MF from being able to hire Andy Ludwig doesn't therefore prove his only options, of the entirety of coaches on the planet, are Parker, Gino, and maybe Watt.

Sure, spring practice starts soon. Would 2 or 3 more days in naming the coaches be that much of a detriment that MF had no other option than to hire guys...right now, today?

Sure, give the administration hell. But don't absolve Freeman and pretend he had no role in it or was forced to hire these 2 or 3 specific guys.

Yeah, that's not Freeman's job to inquire about his fucking buyout.

They have lawyers and agents to figure that out, along with the people who actually deal with the budgets. Freeman needs to question him on football-related matters to make sure he's making the right call.

I will absolve Freeman considering the absolute screw job his bosses made and the fact that this was done so late in the process with a limited pool of candidates, many of which come with their own slew of questions and concerns, especially with very little time prior to spring. That made the idea of promoting from within more viable.

 

[ColinKSU]

FootballScoop says Parker to be OC and some support for Watt to be OL

February 15 is a new record for the earliest Notre Dame has ever tanked a season. Impressive, efficient work.

 

[TNUtoNotreDame]

University of Notre Dame

The University of Notre Dame is a private research university inspired by its Catholic character to be a powerful force for good in the world.

www.nd.edu

That describes it perfectly.

 

[irishog77]

I get the criticism but I'm puzzled by the bolded. Doesn't Ludwig have an agent?

I assume. Since the story broke yesterday, the focus has been on Swarbrick and/or BoT. Some of that is warranted. But the report is that ND thought Ludwig's buyout was 450k, when it was in fact 2.8million. Couldn't Ludwig, or his agent, have possibly given ND bad info? Other reports are that Ludwig just signed a new contract at Utah.

My position since this report broke was that either a lot of info is missing...or that Ludwig and/or Freeman should shoulder some of the blame as well.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

I am going to get behind Parker because he obviously wasn't who they wanted and he has been given the opportunity now regardless of how it all went down. He didn't ask for it and it will now be a career defining promotion for him one way or the other. Not the hire I wanted but I want the guy to do well. Simple as that. He may very well be getting set up to fail due to all of these shananigans, so I hope they go out and get a very good OL coach with that being said.

Guidugli, FFS, spent a lot of time in the Arena League after his college career was over. You have to love football if you're willing to do that for as long as he did. The dude turns 40 next month and interviewed for a MAC HC job a few months ago. Talk about an opportunity now.

The OL coaching hire is going to say a lot and if it is Chris Watt, I really question the motivation behind that hire.

Really have to hope so much goes right at this point, but it's frustrating that all these guys are being put in this position. I hope they all coach their asses off and get something out of it all.